Welcome Location Trimley Marshes make for A14 IPSWICH A12 a wonderful day out with some beautiful A12 A14 scenery, fascinating A137 Circular Walks history and one of the HOLBROOK TRIMLEY MANNINGTREE best wildlife sites in FELIXSTOWE the county. HARWICH The Trimley Circular A120 Trimley Walk guides you around the Trimley lies off the A14 near Felixstowe. Exit the A14 A circular walk around Trimley Marshes 3,400 acre estate owned by Trinity College, at J59, signposted Trimley Villages. Follow signs into Cambridge, past Felixstowe Port with over 125 Trimley St Mary where you pick up white on brown years of history, Trimley Marshes Nature Reserve signs for Nature Reserve. These direct you off with its mosaic of habitats, and Loompit Lake with High Road into Cordy’s Lane, past Trimley Station its impressive colony of cormorants. Please note, to Trimley Marshes Reserve car park (IP11 0UD). there are no toilet facilities on this walk. The walk links by foot and by public transport Public Transport with the Landguard and Felixstowe Walk. That Trimley St Mary is served by regular rail and bus is another fascinating walk which leads you from services from Ipswich. Contact National Rail one of Europe’s best shingle beaches, past the Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 or visit location of England’s last foreign invasion, to www.nationalrail.co.uk for more details. historic Landguard Fort. Visit www.suffolkonboard.com for bus timetables or www.travelineeastanglia.org.uk All walks offer a wonderfully diverse day out. (0871 200 22 33) to plan your journey. You can discover much more about Landguard, Use O.S. Explorer Map 197 Ipswich, Felixstowe with a series of guided walk leaflets to download, & Harwich to enjoy this walk and the wider area. from www.discoverlandguard.co.uk Discover Suffolk Discover many more walks and great days out in the countryside at www.discoversuffolk.org.uk Produced by Suffolk County Council with support from Cllr John Goodwin Printed by Design & Print IP2 0UH 01473 260600 794-ESE-050412 Circular Walk Requisitioned by the Royal Navy in both world The reserve was wars, it was later acquired by an agricultural created from arable merchant with warehousing for copra (dried land in 1990 and is Trimley Marshes coconut), wheat, maize and sugar, and storage traditionally managed Distance: 6 miles (9.5km) for linseed, ground-nut and palm oil. with grazing cattle Time: 3-4 hours and sheep. The Today it is the UK’s busiest container port, Terrain: firm tracks and natural surface paths, marshes are a haven employing over 3,000 people, handling over 3 level by the coast and gently undulating inland. for wildlife and in million containers per year (40% of the UK’s Parking: park at the small car park for Suffolk spring and autumn the container cargo) and capable of accommodating Wildlife Trust’s Trimley Marshes Nature Reserve muddy margins make some of the world’s largest container ships. Post Code: IP11 0UD excellent feeding grounds for Head back and follow signs to the reserve. migrating waders such as From the car park 1 follow the track and Just through the gate, before the left bend, sandpiper, curlew and greenshank. In winter you signs for Trimley Marshes Nature Reserve. Where is another viewpoint. Climb the stile and will see wigeon and brent geese grazing on the the track turns right there is a short detour (1/4 steps to your left for views over the reserve marshes, and redshank, avocet, oystercatcher mile each way) to Fagbury Viewpoint 2 with with Levington Marina in the distance. and black-tailed godwit wading on the mudflats. views over the Port of Felixstowe. From the bird hides keep a watchful eye for otters Port of Felixstowe Trimley Marshes Nature Reserve 3 and water vole. In the lagoon and on its islands Suffolk Wildlife Trust's Trimley Marshes Nature look out for coot, tufted duck, teal and pochard The Port of Felixstowe has been a working dock Reserve is a mosaic of habitats covering 77 mingling with cormorant, little egrets, gadwall and for over 125 years. A dock was first constructed here hectares (200 acres). This is a wetland of shoveler. The islands are ideal nesting sites for in 1882 opening for trade 4 years later when its first international importance and a Site of Special avocet, ringed plover and tufted duck. commercial ship arrived Scientific Interest (SSSI), making it in 1886. The network of dykes are fringed with reeds. Look one of the best wildlife sites out for little grebe, moorhen and both reed and in the county. sedge warblers, as well as Britain’s largest hawker dragonfly, the emperor. Look above for Marsh Harriers and Buzzards, and over the estuary for gulls and terns. At dusk you will often see barn owls hunting for their next meal. The reserve and hides are open at all times, although the visitor centre is open seasonally. Contact 01473 890 089 or visit www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org for more details. Trimley Circular Walk A circular walk around Trimley Marshes 6 5 B 4 7 T KEY TO MAP 1 Circular Walk P Public Footpath Bridleway 3 P Car Park B Bus Stop T Train Station Map based on Ordnance Survey Copyright mapping. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright . Suffolk County Council 2 Licence No. 100023395 2012. Beyond the reserve is a tidal mudflat,4 created in River Orwell Continue following the 2000 to create more salt water habitat for wading birds. The River Orwell flows from Ipswich to Felixstowe waymarkers which lead The footpath continues around the top of the where it mixes with the waters of the Stour to meet you back to Cordy’s raised bank, around the edge of the mudflat, the North Sea. Once known simply as Ipswich Lane where you turn and beyond to Loompit Lake. As you Water, the river has inspired many. Arthur Ransome right for the car park. approach the lake you gain elevation and based his famous Swallows and Amazons books on some lovely views over the River Orwell. this stretch of river and Eric Blair was so inspired by family holidays here that in later life he adopted its name to become George Orwell. Walking to Landguard Peninsula Loompit Lake 5 and Felixstowe Circular Walk Loompit Lake was formed by the devastating floods With Goslings Farm 6 ahead of you, turn right This walk connects with the Landguard of 1953, a combination of high spring tides and a to follow the footpath along a track lined by Peninsula and Felixstowe Circular Walk storm surge which caused sea levels to rise over pine trees. At the lane, turn right and at Alston making a very diverse day out. You can walk 5m above normal levels. The surge travelled down Hall, turn left and follow the footpath through to Felixstowe and get public transport back to the Suffolk coast causing flooding and damaging an avenue of trees. As you exit the avenue, Trimley Station. The 77 bus provides an hourly properties. At Loompit the flood breached the sea turn right with the farm buildings to your left. service between Landguard and Trimley High wall to create a lake. With the docks ahead of you, simply follow the Road and a regular train service operates footpath waymarkers through a coppice and It is worth detouring along the causeway for a good between Felixstowe and Trimley rail stations. view of the lake, home to great crested grebes, little past a pond to enter another avenue of trees. grebes, little egrets and a very large colony of over Towards the top of this rise is a bench with Walking route (4 miles/6.5km) 80 cormorants. You’ll inevitably see the cormorants more lovely views over the countryside – a Continue along Cordy’s Lane, past the parking flying to and from their roosts, an unmistakable perfect place to rest and enjoy the scenery. area back to Fagbury Viewpoint 2 . Here you collection of whitened, now dead, trees on the lakes’ pick up waymarkers for the Stour and Orwell northern shore. Trimley Estate 7 Walk, a long distance path between Harwich At Loompit Lake turn right before the You are looking across the Trimley Estate, a and Felixstowe. Follow the waymarkers causeway and follow the track gently uphill to 3,400 acre estate acquired by Trinity College, through the Port of Felixstowe (take great care a bench with fine views over the River Orwell. Cambridge in 1933, when the port was little more at the level railway crossing) to Beach Station than a small dock basin. Today, the estate covers Road. Past the caravan parks and an entrance the Port of Felixstowe, Trimley Marshes Nature on your left to Langer Park you reach Walton Reserve and farmland. Avenue. At the lights turn right into Langer Road and then left into Manor Road. Follow This area is a rich wildlife haven and includes the road to reach Manor Terrace. a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Protection Area (SPA) and a wetland of international Cross Landguard Nature Reserve to reach importance, all within an Area of Outstanding Landguard Fort and the start of the Landguard Natural Beauty. Peninsula and Felixstowe Walk..